General Woundwort's Folly
by UnicornAmy
Summary: COMPLETED! (Also revised for a stupid mistake I made.) General Woundwort survived the encounter with the dog from Nuthanger farm. What happened to him afterward? Please read and review.
1. Sunflowerrah's Torture

The mother rabbits always told their kittens about the evil General Woundwort, and how if the kittens didn't behave, he would come get them. It was believed by most of the rabbits that he was killed during the raid on Watership Down. The legend of Woundwort was passed down through generations of rabbits until it became entangled in the old stories about El-Hrair-Rah.  
  
But General Woundwort did not get killed by the dog from Nuthanger Farm. He crept away, looking worse than poor Blackavar after his punishment for trying to run away. He should have died. He thought he did die. He crawled for what seemed like an eternity, losing blood all the way. He wished for the Black Rabbit to come for him. Finally, he came upon another warren.  
  
The once great and imposing General was met at the borders of the warren by a large gray rabbit, who was obviously a member of the warren's Owsla.  
  
"Who goes there?" The rabbit barred the battered rabbits way forward.  
  
The General tried to push himself up to all fours, but failed. "I am called General Woundwort, survivior of the warren Efrafa. I come from a massacre. A dog atacked me. Finish me now, if you want. But do it quick, so I don't have to freeze first."  
  
The rabbit was taken aback by this proclaimation. This battered old rabbit was the legendary General Woundwort? But Efrafa was hrair miles away! It couldn't be, but here he was, facing him, in the flesh.  
  
The gray rabbit stepped aside, and told his Owsla, which had come up behind him with astealth that even Woundwort himself had to admire, that he himself would escort the guest to their Chief Rabbit, Sunflower.  
  
"Yes, Cypress. We will continue to watch the borders." The rabbits dissipated.  
  
"It's procedure, you see, that we take all guests of the warren directly to him," Cypress told Woundwort as he limped slowly towards the hole that Cypress had indicated. "Plus, we have to get you underground before you bring elil all around us. You reek of blood. However did you get so far alone?"  
  
Woundwort looked at Cypress with his one good eye. "With luck, young Captain of Owsla, with luck."  
  
"I'm Cypress, Woundwort. It's an honor to meet you."  
  
They had been going deeper and deeper underground as they talked, and presently they came to the burrow of the Chief Rabbit. General Woundwort could tell by the smell of the burrow that the Chief was younger than he was, and sick, too. He took note of this, thought to himself, "A fine warren this is, and it's just right for the taking. My luck seems to rival the very trickery of Elil-Hrair-Rah at times."  
  
Cypress broke him away from his thought by nudging him. "My uncle will see you now."  
  
"Your uncle? You're related to the Chief Rabbit?" Woundwort couldn't believe his luck. The young officer was already star-struck by him, maybe he could use him somehow...  
  
"Chief Rabbit Sunflower, this is hlessi that wandered into the warren. He claims to be General Woundwort, sir." Cypress' voice held a menace that hadn't been there on the walk down. Unease began to form in Woundwort's mind.  
  
"You are General Woundwort? You? What brought you here of all places? You don't know who I am... do you?" The Chief Rabbit didn't smell familiar, nor did the General recognize the rabbit's voice.  
  
The once-fine General was beginning to feel apprehensive now. "Don't know you? I've never met you before in my life!"  
  
Sunflower stood up, and his immense size struck Woundwort for the first time. The Chief Rabbit was larger than Woundwort.  
  
"Ah, the fine General Woundwort. The most feared rabbit in history. You are the Destroyer of Warrens, the Killer of Kittens, you are a murderer and a coward. I was a mere kitten when you attacked Nutley Copse. You remember Nutley Copse, don't you, General? You attacked us with no warning, you and your Wide Patrol. You yourself killed our Chief Rabbit, you took our does for Efrafa. You killed both of my parents, General. I barely escaped with my life. I wandered for days, until I found my way here. Now, long after I gave up my hope for revernge, now you come to me and you are a sad case, General. I should have my nephew rip you to shreds. I shall not, however. You, the scourge of my life, shall dig a burrow for yourself by the main entrance where you shall stay until you die. You shall not eat, you shall not do anything without my permission. You are mine now, General." The roomy burrow bagan to spin and the General fell to the ground , unconsious. 


	2. Cypress' Request

The rabbit woke in an obviously unused run, which was a little too small for him. His head hurt from where he had been unconsious for the last two days. What a long fall for the once great General of Efrafa. He thought back to his days at his warren, and to one certain rabbit named Blackavar. The irony did not escape him that he was now beign treated exactly the same was as he had treated Blackavar after his escape attempt from Efrafa. He chuckled inwardly at his fate. How fitting, he thought.   
  
Soon, he heard another rabbit coming down the tunnel to the run, a large one by the sound of him. He braced himself for attack.  
  
"General Woundwort, it's me! Cypress. I've been trying to get to you since your sentencing. O great general, your exploits are known throughout the warren. Sunflower-rah has always talked about you. He was obsessed with you. You were all I ever heard about as a kitten. I brought you food, General, because you've been without it for so long. If you would allow me, I would clean your wounds, too, sir."  
  
The General was impressed by the great risk that this young buck was taking to bring him food. Th moved aside as far as he could to let Cypress in next to him. Cypress had brought him a leaf of lettuce, stolen from Sunflower-rah's own store, it seemed. The young rabbit beside him began to clean the General's wounds, and the General winced as blood began to flow from his cuts.   
  
"Why do you risk so much for me, Cypress. In your Chief Rabbit's eye, I am nothing more than a criminal." In that he was truly curious. No one had ever risked anything for him especially. Oh, the bucks in Efrafa were willing to do Wide Patrols, but that was always for their own glory and not his. He could not think what would make this buck risk so much for him. Cypress was obviously favored by his uncle, however, it was clear that there was something of a rivalry between the two.  
  
"Why? O, General, if only you knew what kind of a monster Sunflower-rah is. He drives kittens out into the rain if they even smell wrong. He banishes does for not digging the right tunnel. He is evil, the Black Rabbit of Inle' himself. We needed a hero like you to come now, General. Frith himself sent you blundering into me two nights ago. I want you to help us, General. Help us depose Sunflower-rah. Many of the bucks in the warren will help you. I myself and a leader in the rebelliion against him. I want him gone, General. If you help us, we will make you Chief Rabbit over this warren, and we will be your enforcers. You shall rule here, General. You can lead again, General. The story of what happened at Watership is all over the countryside. You can have a new warren, full of young blood, fully concealable, and maybe if you wanted, we could go back to Watership and take back Efrafa and take down Bigwig and Hazel."  
  
It all flashed in front of the General. He could do as Cypress requested- and then he could rebuild what he had lost. He would be a hero, with a loyal host of rabbits at his side.   
  
"You have me, Cypress. You get together your bucks, get them rady. Give me time to get my strength back. You and I will take this warren together." The hope bagan to flicker back into the General's heart. He remembered how he took Efrafa. He knew it was his time again. Cypress got to his feet and made his way out of the tunnel.   
  
"I'll come for you when we're ready, General. El-ahrairah bless you." 


	3. Author's Question

Author's Note  
  
What do you think? Should I let the General take over the warren or not? 


	4. The General's Folly

General Woundwort, strengthened by the prospect of taking the warren away from Sunflower, slept well that night.  
  
He was awakened roughly at dawn the next morning by Sunflower-rah himself.  
  
"Follow me, you embleer fool. Today you shall be shown to my rabbits. They may kill you if I ask them to. They may even rip you to shreds. The rabbits of my warren are loyal to me, and if I order it, you will die today. Now, come." Sunflower got to his feet and stalked down the run. The General followed his slowly, still in a little bit of pain from his troubled times.  
  
Sunflower led him out into the early morning daylight where he'd ordered his rabbits to gather. The General had never seen a more pitiful lot. The very life that he so admired no longer sparkled from the eyes of these rabbits. Life was as death to them. These rabbits were so much worse off than the rabbits of Efrafa. At least those rabbits had still had possessed spirit. These poor rabbits had nothing. Sunflower began to speak to them.  
  
"My rabbits, I gather you here today for a cause. I have finally gotten my will. The great Woundwort, the one who destroyed my life, has come to us at last. Here he is, the murderer of Nutley Copse. I have told you all of that day, long ago, when he ruined everything for me. I have him now, in front of you. This sad bag of bones is that great and fine General. I would order you to kill him, but that would be too easy. He shall languish in agony until I decide you're finished."  
  
General Woundwort looked from face to face, confronting total apathy and sadness, bordering on tharn on many of the faces. As he studied them, he though back on meetings of the Efrafan Council. He remembered that same look on the prisoner rabbits there. He began to realize his great failing. In trying to protect his rabbits, he had warped them and made them sad and twisted. He couldn't understand how he's gotten so out of hand. He vowed to himself then that he would take this warren from Sunflower and try to atone a little for what he had wrought upon the warren of Efrafa. He now knew that Hazel-rah had been right, and that to do what Cypress wanted him to do, he had to play along with Sunflower for now. 


	5. The Black Rabbit of Inle'

General Woundwort's Folly Ch. 4  
  
The General's underground movement grew in numbers as the weeks wore on. He began to understand how the resistance in Efrafa could have grown with the same frightening speed. As the weeks wore on, however, his rations got less and less and he was allowed to silflay for only minutes at a time. Days went by when he did not see Frith in the sky, and that again brought to mind his poor rabbits back in Efrafa. How had he not seen what he had been doing to those poor unfortunate souls under his protection? He was not fit to be called a Chief Rabbit.  
  
It was true, he had begun to despair. And in his despair one evening- his last evening according to Sunflower, he called out to the Black Rabbit of Inle'. To his surprise, the Black Rabbit answered him, came hopping into the burrow that stank of the General's blood.  
  
"You called me, O General?" The Rabbit's ears shown with a faint light.  
  
"I did not expect you to come." The General was awed by the fact that he had indeed come. If the Rabbit wanted to take him with him, he would gladly go.  
  
"I came because you intrigue me, General. I almost had you, you know. Almost. When the dog came and attacked you, you were almost mine then. But you amazed me, General. You escaped the dog- and therefore me. You escaped me before, too, when you were young. You weren't meant to be here this long. You have had much time, General. Some say too much time. The elil feared you. Not because you were fierce, but because you were uncanny! How could you have escaped me so many times?" The Black Rabbit looked the General full in the face, and a deep chill entered him as he stared back.  
  
"I do not know, my Lord. I do not know. I only wish to serve you and El- ahrairah. What should I do, my Lord. I feel so tired."  
  
"You have escaped me so many times. Now, I will do something I have never done before for any rabbit, not even El-ahrairah. Ask anything of me, and you shall have it. I respect you, General. I do, and when your time comes again, you shall be my Chief of Owsla. So I will grant you what you ask. as long as it's within my power to give."  
  
Many things raced through the General's mind. the wish to go back and save his father from the farmer's gun, the wish to take back his decision about attacking Watership Down, the wish to agree to Hazel's vision, and the wish to have the strength to continue with Cypress' plan. Only one of these made any sense to the weakened General and it was the only one he dared to voice.  
  
"My Lord, give me the strength to help this warren. I must right this wrong that I have committed unwittingly against these rabbits by just being myself, as I used to be. Give me the strength to be the General again, but not a General of war. I wish to correct this warren's sorrow. I want to lead again, and lead the right way this time."  
  
"So be it." The General blinked and the Black Rabbit was gone. He found himself surging with newfound strength and determination. He would help this warren! He would be their Chief Rabbit! He would do it the right way! He climbed to all fours and did not find himself falling down again. He looked out of the burrow he was in, and saw only one guard posted. That guard was Cypress, who had never noticed the Black Rabbit, entering or leaving.  
  
"Cypress! We can do it tomorrow night! Call all the rabbits together! Sunflower means to kill me tomorrow night. I know that. We will take the warren from him then!" The General saw light spring into Cypress's eyes.  
  
"I will inform the others, General. Are you sure?" Cypress was taken aback. Just a few hours ago, he'd been sure the General was going to die.  
  
"I have been shown the way, Cypress. Do not worry." 


	6. Author's Note and Question

I recieved a review for my last chapter and I wanted to explain something: The Black Rabbit is able to take any life he wants at any time. However, in the case of the General, he made an exception both times.   
  
I had no control over this chapter. I don't know why it came out the way it did. But I liked it, so I presented it to you in the form that it came out of my fingers into the keyboard. I honestly don't even remember typing or uploading it, so I was just as surprised as I'm sure you were to see the Black Rabbit. I hope you liked my chapter, and I'm sure there are more surprises to come as the story grows.  
  
Now, I have a request for you all: I need bunny names, especially for a doe and a litter of kittens. I'm having trouble thinking of them, so I wanted to enlist you guys to help me. Thank you in advance, and if I use your names I'll give you a shout out in the next Author's Note!  
  
UnicornAmy 


	7. Ambush at Dawn

The General was unable to sleep that night. He knew that the next day help all his hopes and he wondered if this was how Bigwig had felt before he led his does away form Efrafa. Ah, how he wished he were backing Efrafa now, making up for things he'd done wrong. Cypress was waiting outside the burrow, guarding him (or so Sunflower-rah thought). The other rabbits in the warren knew that the uprising was going to happen, and The General was amazed that not one of them had tipped off their Chief Rabbit. Loyal rabbits had tipped him off, after all, when Bigwig made his escape.  
  
Night rolled by slowly and turned into early morning. Sunflower-rah came to the dingy burrow at the first light of Frith coming over the down.  
  
"Get up, General, and face your final sunrise. You die today, General. I have enjoyed having you here as a guest in my warren, and I hope you have enjoyed your time here, too." Sunflower had a dangerous glint in his eyes. He led General Woundwort from the burrow, and they were followed by Cypress.  
  
"Oh, you great fool. I have enjoyed my time here. You are a sick and twisted rabbit, and I, for one, think you are going to wish you'd been kinder to me." The moment it escaped his lips, he wished he hadn't said it. Great, General, tip your paw before you get outside on the down, he thought, astounded at what he'd done.  
  
Sunflower whirled around in the burrow, and faced The General, their whiskers nearly touching. "Why do you say that, Woundwort? What do you have planned?" Sunflower was blocking the run and The General backed up. Feeling Cypress there, he stopped and stood his ground.  
  
"Planned? Why, Sunflower, how could I have planned anything? I've been holed up in that embleer burrow since I was brought here by you Captain of Owsla. How could I have made plans? Are you sure you're not going tharn?" It was a bluff, and a desperate one, too. Closed up in the run like this, Sunflower could tear out his throat before he had a chance to react, and The General knew it. Sunflower seemed to consider the fact, and turned around. The General blew and inward sigh of relief, and began to follow him again. He would not appear cowed, though. Even in this lowly state, The General still had his pride.  
  
The Chief Rabbit finally emerged out into the daylight, where his rabbits were gathered on the downs. They were awaiting him and the prisoner, as per his orders. Oh it would be his most glorious moment as Chief Rabbit! He would tear The General to pieces.  
  
Sunflower and The General never saw it coming.  
  
As Cypress emerged from the mouth of the run, the rabbits loyal to his movement attacked. They closed in on Sunflower, knocking The General aside. The wind knocked out of him, he struggled to his paws, ready to attack anything that came near him. Nothing did. General Woundwort looked to where Sunflower had emerged. All that was there was a splotch of blood on the grass. He looked around, and saw the frenzied rabbits attacking Sunflower-rah, who no longer seemed to be fighting back. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only the space between heartbeats, Sunflower no longer moved, and the pack of rabbits back up away from the now still body. Cypress was just watching.  
  
"It's over." Cypress hopped over to General Woundwort. "The warren is yours, General. We have wrested it away from the tharn Sunflower and I, as acting Chief Rabbit, give it to you."  
  
General Woundwort shook his head. He no longer wanted to be Chief Rabbit. "The warren is yours, Cypress-rah. All I ask of you is to be allowed to take a doe and raise a family. I will advise you, if you like, but I will have no part of being Chief Rabbit again."  
  
Cypress was genuinely surprised. He'd thought that General would jump at the chance to be Chief Rabbit again. After all, hadn't they discussed it all before? "Are you sure, General? I do not know how to run a warren, sir."  
  
"Neither did I when I founded Efrafa. Call this warren Aerinlir. Make it your own. I will help you."  
  
Author's Note: One more chapter and my story is complete. After that, I'll give acknowledgement to those who warrant it. 


	8. At Last, Peace

Many, many summers passed after the liberation of Aerinlir. Cypress-rah was a good and just Chief Rabbit, and brought another rabbit by the name of Hazel to the top of General Woundwort's mind several times in their long companionship. For the first few years, the two were inseparable. However, Cypress-rah began to rely more and more on his own judgment and General Woundwort left him to being Chief Rabbit alone. But they never stopped being friends.  
  
The General, in his third summer at Vlilfan, became a nurturing father for the first time in his long life. He mated with a doe called Wintercress, and she bore him a litter. He named each of the kittens himself. The strongest male was named Thlayli-roo. Even as a kitten, deaf and blind, Thlayli-roo reminded Woundwort of his namesake. He even grew in his namesake's large thatch of fur on the top of his head. The does he named Snowberry and Buttercup. His favorite male out of the litter he called Hawkweed.  
  
Woundwort became a favorite in Aerinlir for his stories of Efrafa- and he told them many times to crowds of young rabbits. He was a sort of legend to the younger generation of rabbits in the warren, and he even taught the Owsla about the Wide Patrols that had kept Efrafa so safe.  
  
He often wondered what happened to Efrafa and Watership Down after his escape from the dog. He hoped they fared well.  
  
General Woundwort died in his sleep, out on the downs one sunny fall day. He was finally greeted warmly by the Black Rabbit of Inle', who'd waited for him all this time. 


	9. Last Words from UnicornAmy

Final Author's note:  
  
As long as I've been a writer, I've been deathly afraid of what other people thought of my work. In the writing of General Woundwort's Folly, I have been helped along and supported by some very fine reviews (okay, okay, one review wasn't so complementary, but I took that in stride) and some very fine readers. I would like to thank you now:  
  
Anthony Exposito  
  
Nightshade   
  
Jill  
  
Loganberry   
  
RogueFanKC   
  
It was your reviews and opinions that made me want to continue this story and it was your suggestions that helped make the story grow into what it did.  
  
This story was a real accomplishment for me. It was the first story that I've ever written on both a computer and a ringed notebook. (Trust me, it looks a lot bigger written out in longhand!)  
  
I'd also like to say thanks to Richard Adams, without whom I never could have written the story in the first place. General Woundwort will always be his rabbit. I only hope I did him justice.  
  
One last thank you: to my dear husband and best friend, Ronald Brad Murphy. He is my light and my guide and at times my muse and my beta-reader.  
  
That's all. Thanks for reading General Woundwort's Folly, and tell me if you want more from Vlilfan, and the General's little ones. 


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